He started in 2003, in what was once considered a "backwater" at Google — the ads group.

Ramaswamy was in charge of the many algorithms that make sure Google always orders the ads on its search results pages in the most profitable way. (Side note: For this, he deserves partial credit for the destruction of Yahoo, which used a simplistic straight auction to order its search ads. The difference in yield allowed Google to pay more for search distribution and eventually gain a practical monopoly.)

Ramaswamy keeps a low profile. He hardly ever speaks in public. He's worth millions, but he drove a Honda till a couple years ago.

He's sharp-tongued. Efrati reports that "he is blunt and unafraid to openly disagree with colleagues and subordinates." And his attitude with subordinates was generally "sink or swim."

He's got a little Walter White in him. Back when Ramaswamy was promoted to vice president, he had a meeting with Google cofounder Larry Page. Page didn't remember Ramaswamy's name. Ramaswamy was offended. According to Efrati, Ramaswamy told a colleague his new goal was to make Page remember his name.

Ramaswamy fought a battle with other Google executives to prevent them from mining the search histories of Google users to improve ad-targeting on non-Google sites.

Ramaswamy's biggest rival is Susan Wojcicki, one of CEO Larry Page's oldest confidants. For a while, both of them were in charge of ads. During one particularly heated argument, held in front of Google's senior staff, Ramaswamy told Wojcicki: "Tell me what you really want to do … Just say it." One person who was there says of the two: "They could barely be in a room together."